One in a Million
by Dragon's Fury 90999
Summary: Bella is not human. She's a hemophage, no, nothing like in the movies. Hollywood never does getm much right, but what will happen when she and her three cousins meet up with the Cullens? A mix of the book and movie.
1. Chapter 1

One in a Million

By realixweatherfairy

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Chapter 1: Hemophages

Bella POV

My name is Isabella Swan, but I prefer Bella. And I was born into a world that most people would not understand. But first let me tell you some things about me. First off, I'm a hemophage; no, nothing like in the movies. Hollywood never does get much right. It's more of a genetic gene that passed on from parent to child; one way that we're different is that we have longer teeth, like fangs. Hemophages are stronger and faster than humans, in fact all of our senses are enhanced to almost inhuman levels, but there's no limit to how long we live, in fact, we're immortal. We heal faster and we have other powers that set us all apart. Most of us can read minds, move things with our minds, and influence an element. I'm, however, a rarity. The hemophagic gene that runs through my blood keeps on mutating, changing me, increasing my powers. It's something that has never been heard of before. I can influence all the elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Wood, and Metal and I can speak to animals with my mind, but I'm more attuned to Earth and Wood than anything else.

Second, I'm moving. To Forks, Washington to live with my dad, who's a hemophage like me, along with my three cousins, Nathaniel, Lucas, and Natalie. I have been there since I was at least thirteen. My parents, Charlie and Renée, married early in life, just out of high school, but divorced just a few years later, then my mom moved to Phoenix, Arizona with me. During the first few years before I turned thirteen, I spent Thanksgiving and Halloween with Charlie, until I demanded that he spend some time with me in California instead. A few years after the divorce, my Aunt Jody Swan, Charlie's sister, moved to Phoenix after a divorce from her husband, and returned to her maiden name, with her three children, but she died not too long ago, leaving her three teenagers in my mother's care.

Nathaniel and Lucas are twins, a year older than me, both are around six feet tall buzzed dark brown hair, and are athletes, football, and Natalie is the only girl, who is a year younger than me, she's a little shorter than me, with long black hair to the middle of her back, and blue eyes, she's also athletic, gymnastics; they get all the luck. I'm about 5'6, curvy, but not athletic with long brown hair to my hips and chocolate brown eyes; needless to say, I look more like my dad than I do my mom. All three are hemophages like me. The only way to tell Nathaniel from Lucas is that Nate has blue eyes while Luke has brown like me.

Not too long ago, my mom married a man named Phil, who was a professional baseball player, not very good, mind you, strictly minor league. So he travels a lot, leaving my mom home with me and my cousins. I could tell that she missed him a lot, so I talked to my cousins, all of whom are like brothers and a sister to me, and we all decided to move in with Charlie, so that Renée could travel with Phil. So here we are on a plane to Seattle, where we're going to meet my dad. Oh, Charlie is the Police Chief to the good people of Forks.

Don't get me wrong; he's very good at his job, I just think he could use his powers on the job a little less. In fact, Charlie is the leader of the hemophages, like a tribal leader. When he was younger, Charlie started a group, like a gang of sorts, called the Defenders. This group would go around, taking patrols, and keep the peace between the vampires and the Quileute werewolves. But he's already passed on the torch to me and my cousins, so I guess that kind of makes me the leader.

Of course, with us being hemophages, we have to keep a low profile. We can't let the normal people know about us. I'm not exactly sure that they'd be very welcoming to the fact that we're different and we may be victimized; that's just something that we cannot allow. We need secrecy almost as much as the vampires and Quileutes do. Oh, yes, we know that they exist, and we try to make sure that they don't get into fights were humans might end up getting involved.

Normal POV

The first thing that Bella noticed when the plane landed and she and her cousins got out of the airport terminal was Charlie standing not too far. When he saw them, he immediately helped them with their bags brought them to his car. They didn't say anything until they were in the car. What was cool about being a hemophage, the Swan family had many stocks and bonds worth over fifty million dollars and could afford to have a huge house, and as many cars as they wanted. Bella owned a sapphire blue with gray leather interior Mercedes Guardian that wasn't even available in much of Europe, let alone the United States. Her cousins had cars too, but they normally just drove to school together.

The next day as they pulled into the parking lot of Forks High School, the first thing they noticed was the silver Volvo that was parked a few spaces down from where Bella parked her Mercedes. As the Swans got out, so did the driver of the Volvo and the passengers. The first thing that Bella noticed was that they were vampires. She could tell a vampire from a human a mile away due to her heightened senses. When Bella slammed her car door shut, the driver, a boy of no more than 17 with gold eyes and bronze colored hair, turned in her direction. She ignored him and followed her cousins into the building that said Main Office.

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Edward heard a car door slam shut and turned to see a girl no more than 17 with long brown hair to her hips wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a light blue ¾ length t-shirt. She turned to look at him. Her eyes were a deep chocolate brown that he could lose himself in, her lips full and pink. Her skin was a cream color and her cheeks slightly red from the cold. Her figure was feminine and curvy. As she turned and walked away with two other guys and another girl, he noticed that her walk was as graceful as a vampire's. He watched her and her companions until they went into the Main Office building, and he turned to his brothers and sisters and said, "Looks like we have new students."

"Yes, the Swans," Alice replied, "Bella, Nathaniel, Lucas, and Natalie."

"Which one was which, Alice?" Jasper asked.

"Bella was the brunette, Natalie was the black haired, and I can't tell which one is Lucas or Nathaniel, apparently, they're twins," she told him.

"_So, Bella Swan, huh?"_ Edward thought and looked forward to seeing her again.

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After getting her schedule, Bella headed to her English class, which was extremely boring. She'd already read all of the books that the teacher wanted her to read, practically a million times each. Then added to the fact that she already had a bunch of guys hitting on her, it made her a little agitated. It helped a little when she got through her Trigonometry and Spanish classes without incident and it looked like she had gained a follower, a girl who sat next to her in both classes. She couldn't remember her name.

At lunch, her reluctance eased some when she saw that she had lunch with her cousins and they along with Bella's new friend, whose name she remembered to be Jessica, sat with Jessica's other friends, who introduced themselves as Eric, Mike, Angela, Tyler, and Lauren. As she ate her lunch and looked around, Bella noticed the boy from this morning who drove the silver Volvo, sitting at a table by the window with two other boys and two girls. All of whom were vampires. The bronze haired boy looked up when he felt her gaze on him, he held her eyes for a moment before they narrowed and she looked away. Turning to Jessica, she asked, "Who are they?"

Apparently knowing from her tone, Jessica said, "They are Emmett, Edward, and Alice Cullen, and Jasper and Rosalie Hale. They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife. I think she's their aunt or something." Bella and her cousins turned their gaze toward Cullens. The bronze haired one was speaking quickly to the others, but it was too loud in the cafeteria to hear what he was saying, even with their enhanced hearing. Without looking at her, Bella asked Jessica, "Which is the bronze haired one?" Almost as if he had heard her, which he probably did, the boy looked up and met her gaze again, this time with a frustrated look on his face.

"That's Edward Cullen, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date; I don't think he finds any of the girls here good enough for him," she answered. Bella smirked and laughed slightly at the thought and it looked like he smiled slightly before she turned away.

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Edward was sitting with his brothers and sisters when he felt someone's gaze on him and looked around, only to meet the chocolate brown eyes of Bella Swan. His gaze held hers before she looked away and asked who he and his family were. He tried to hear her thoughts, but for some reason he couldn't, which he thought was strange. He turned and told his siblings, "Guys, I can't hear Bella Swan's thoughts." They all looked at him strangely and they looked at her like she was some science experiment. When he looked back at Bella, he found not only her gaze on him, but the other Swan's gazes were on him and his family as well. They watched them for awhile before he saw Bella smirk and laughed slightly. After hearing what Stanley was thinking, he smiled slightly and watched as Bella turned around and told the other Swans to stop staring.

"_That is so strange that I can't hear her," _he thought as the bell rang and he quickly went to his Biology class.

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Bella walked into her Biology class with Mike who introduced her to Mr. Banner, who signed her sheet, and told her to take her seat, which happened to be right next Edward Cullen, the only open seat. Sighing, she went sat down and completely ignored him. The only thing she noticed was the fact that his eyes had gone from gold to black, and was trying to sit as far away from her as possible, which suited her just fine, as long as he didn't attack her or any of the others in the class. If he did, then she'd be forced to put him out of commission. Permanently.

As he glared at her, Bella bared her teeth at him and let out a soft hiss under her breath when Mr. Banner wasn't looking, which even though he was still glaring at her, made him stiffen. Once the bell rang, with a movement that made a vampire look slow, Bella had grabbed her book bag and was out the door, Edward not too far behind her. After school that day, Bella met her cousins at her car and watched as Edward and his family stood as his car, watching them. She met his gaze for a moment, before she and her cousins got in her car and she drove off, with him watching after her.

"So, Bells, whose turn is it to do patrol tonight?" Lucas asked. Since they had come back to Forks, the three of them had taken up patrols to make sure that all was well. And since Charlie was the leader of the last group of Defenders, the title had been passed down to her.

"Nate's," Bella replied, as she pulled into the driveway of their house, "I'm going to start dinner."

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It was a week before Bella saw Edward Cullen again. When Bella saw him at lunch, she decided that he looked better than he had the week before, his face flushed, the shadows under his eyes less noticeable. She saw him look around the cafeteria, and when he looked at Jessica's table, he looked disappointed. On the Swan's third day, they decided to embark on their own and get their own table a little closer to the Cullen's table, but not too close, it helped that Mike was annoying Bella.

"_Is he looking for me?"_ she thought. Then she heard his brother, Emmett, tell Edward that she was staring at him and indicated where she was sitting. Looking where Emmett was indicating, Edward met her gaze. She bowed her head, showing that she was acknowledging him and he bowed his head in return, before they looked away from each other.

As Bella sat down at her lab table next to Edward after lunch she had intended to completely ignore Edward until he said, "Hello." She looked towards him, surprised that he was speaking to her as he continued," My name is Edward Cullen. I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan." Bella nodded and said, "Nice to meet you." He smiled in response. As they got started on the lab that Mr. Banner had them work on, Edward asked, "It's too bad about the snow, don't you think?"

"No," she replied. He looked confused until he said, "You don't like the cold, do you?"

"Or the wet, for that matter."

"This must be a very difficult place for you to live, then," he replied. She could tell that he was pressing to make small talk with her as she said in a dead voice, "You have no idea."

"Then may I ask why you came here?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but my mother got remarried to a professional baseball player who travels a lot," she said curtly. He looked even more confused at the tone of her voice, as he replied, "So she sent you here so she could travel with him?"

"No, my cousins and I sent ourselves," Bella said, increasing his confusion, so she continued, "A few years ago, my Aunt died and left her three kids in my mother's custody, the worst decision she could have made if I didn't live with my mother at the time, so Renée stayed with us while my stepfather traveled, but she was unhappy, so we sent ourselves here."

"So now you're unhappy."

"Yeah, so," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"That doesn't sound very fair to me."

"Then I guess you never heard that life isn't fair, now did you," Bella replied, closing her eyes, and leaning back against her chair.

"Actually, yes, I did hear that before," Edward said, also closing his eyes and leaning back against his chair. They didn't say anything else until the bell rang, and when it did, Bella once again with a movement that made a vampire look slow grabbed her book bag and walk towards the door of the classroom with Edward right behind her. When she was at the door, Bella turned around and looked Edward in the eye and said, "It was nice to meet you, Edward Cullen," and turned and walked away, leaving him staring after her.

As Bella and her cousins prepared to get in Bella's car, Bella noticed Edward was leaning against the hood of his Volvo 4 spaces down from them watching her every movement. Without acknowledging him, Bella and her cousins got in the car and drove off. When she looked back in the review mirror, Bella noticed that Edward was following her car's progress with his eyes.

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The next few months went by without incident. When Bella woke up one morning, she knew that snow had fallen. She groaned. She hated the snow. Even though she had the feeling that she shouldn't get up, Bella did anyway. If anything, Bella was anything but determined. She never missed any school and was one of the smartest kids in her entire class, with a few exceptions, Edward being one of them. In fact, Bella found herself looking forward seeing him at school everyday. She enjoyed the small talk that he occasionally decided to grace her with.

When she got downstairs, the first thing Bella noticed was that her cousins had already left. She was running a little late, so Bella quickly grabbed a granola bar and left the house. It didn't take long for her to get to school and she had a lot less trouble than she thought she would've. And when she got to the school and parked her car, Bella found out why.

As she got out of her car, and headed towards the trunk of her car, Bella saw something silver on her tires. When she bent to get a better look, she saw that Charlie had gotten up who knows how early and put snow chains on her tires and she knew that he had to have done it not only for her, but for her cousins' cars as well. As she stood up again, Bella had to fight the wave of emotion that flooded through her. She wasn't used to something taking care of her, not even her mother.

What happened next happened so quickly that Bella couldn't wrap her head around it. First, she saw Edward standing by the trunk his Volvo looking at her his eyes wide with horror; second, she heard a loud screech, like brakes being slammed, and third, she saw a big blue van sliding on the ice towards her. She didn't have much time to react but Bella quickly used her powers to slow the van's progress, and it came to a stop a few inches away from her. Before she knew it, Edward was by her side, and she fainted.

When she woke up, Bella was strapped to a gurney, and was being loaded into an ambulance. Edward was sitting in the ambulance next to her and went to the hospital with her. He didn't say anything to her and she didn't say anything to him either; it was as if they were giving each other the silent treatment.

After the doctor had checked her out, and pronounced her in perfect health, Bella walked out the room, only to hear Edward talking to his brothers and sisters.

"Now is the time, Edward," one of them said.

"No," he replied. She didn't know what they were talking about, but then Bella heard someone call her name. She turned and saw Nathaniel coming toward her, his face grave. She groaned and said, "Not now, Nate," and started walking down the hall where the Cullens were standing. Nathaniel hurried to catch up with her as she was just about to pass the Cullens and grabbed her arm and said, "What were you thinking, Bells? You could have blown our cover!" She turned and glared at Nathaniel, her eyes going from brown to black, and growled at him, "Not here, Nate!"

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"_Cover? What is he talking about?" _Edward thought, as he and his siblings watching the confrontation between Bella and her cousin. He was about to step in to help Bella, but she then jerked her arm away from him and stalked off. Without a backwards glance at his family, or Bella's cousin, he followed after her. He found her just as she was about to leave the hospital.

"Bella, what was he talking about?" he asked. She looked at him, and shook her head and left the hospital without answering his question, leaving him as frustrated as ever.

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The next few weeks went by and Bella and Edward were no longer speaking, more like Bella was avoiding him whenever possible. Jessica then made her aware of another event when she called one night to ask permission to ask Mike to the spring dance that was girl's choice. Bella told her that it was alright. When she got to school the next day, Jessica wasn't her usually happy, go-lucky self. Bella figured that Mike must have said no. Her worst fears were confirmed when Mike turned to her when they in Biology and said, "Jessica asked me to the dance."

"That's great; you should go," Bella said, totally uncomfortable with this subject, especially since Edward had decided to grace their conversation with his attention.

"Well, I thought that, maybe, you might ask me," he admitted with a blush.

"I think that you should tell her yes, Mike," Bella told him, raising an eyebrow.

"Why? Aren't you going to the dance?"

"No," she replied curtly.

"Why not?"

"I'm going to Seattle that day," she decided quickly. She needed to get out of town anyway, namely from a certain person who was sitting right next to her.

"Can't you go some other time?"

"Nope," she replied and that ended the conversation. When Mr. Banner came and started teaching class, Bella noticed that Edward was staring at her with a frustrated look on his face. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Mr. Banner then called on Edward and he looked away from her reluctantly. They didn't say anything to each other and left when the bell rang.

After school was finished that day, and Bella, Nathaniel, Lucas, and Natalie got to Bella's car, Bella saw Eric waiting. He asked her to the dance but she said no. She heard a light chuckle and saw Edward walking by on his way to his car. Then she and her cousins got into the car, but Edward was already in his and when they pulled out he was waiting in the way for his brothers and sisters, blocking them. Bella growled in annoyance. She looked in her rearview mirror and sure enough, a line was forming, with Tyler, the guy who had almost hit her, right behind her, waving frantically to get her attention. She was too annoyed with Edward to acknowledge him and before she knew it, Tyler was at her window. Rolling it down, she said, "Sorry, Tyler, I'm stuck behind Cullen." He grinned and said, "I know, I just wanted to ask you to the dance."

"I'm not going to the dance, Tyler," she told him, annoyed. He nodded and let the subject drop. She then saw Edward looking in his rearview mirror, watching the exchange, she accelerated, since her car was small enough to fit next to his, she pulled up next to him, rolled down the passenger side window and he rolled down his.

"Don't you ever do that again," Bella growled at him through her teeth, her eyes flashing from brown to black in a matter of seconds, and sped off, muttering a steam of curses, leaving him staring after her car, a look of surprise on his face as his brothers and sisters got in the car.

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The week after, Jessica asked Bella to go with her and Angela to get their dresses in Port Angeles and she agreed. After school on Tuesday, the three of them rode in Jessica's white Mercury and they quickly got to shopping. When they were done in the department store, Bella left them to look for a book store. They had both been willing to go with her, but they had planned to spend a few hours at the beach, so she went alone. As she walked, she thought about Edward, and how frustrating he was sometimes. She didn't notice when a group of guys started following her until looked back and saw them. Hearing what they were thinking about in their thoughts, Bella was disgusted and increased her pace, but they only started walking faster to catch up with her. She considered using her speed, but Bella knew that these were normal people and she couldn't do that. As she turned a corner, she had to slow down as some of them had crossed her path.

"Ah, there you are," one of them said, while laughing.

"Stay away from me," Bella growled, annoyed that she couldn't do anything to defend herself without revealing what she was.

"Ah, come on, don't be like that, honey," another said and laughter started behind her as headlights flew down the street that they were standing in and the car stopped only a few inches away from her. Relief flooded through her when Edward got out of the car and said, "Get in the car," and stood his ground against the men as she did as she was told. After a moment, Edward got back in the car and sped off, muttering a stream of curses while he was at it.

"I should go back and rip those guys heads off," she heard him mutter at one point, and she said, "No, you shouldn't."

"Bella, you don't know the utterly repulsive things they were thinking," he growled at her, making her raise her eyebrow at him and say, "You'd be surprised." He stopped muttering and gave her a confused look, but she didn't elaborate. He then pulled in front of the restaurant that Bella was supposed to meet up with Jessica and Angela who were pacing in front of the restaurant with worried expressions on their faces. Relief and confusion flooded their faces when they saw her, and who she was with. In the end, Jessica and Angela ended up going home and Edward and Bella went into the restaurant.


	2. Chapter 2

One in a Million

By realixweatherfairy

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Chapter 2: Secrets Revealed and a New Danger

Bella had to smile when they went inside and watched while Edward unconsciously dazzled the hostess with his smile. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, making Edward look at her funny as they took their seats.

"You shouldn't do that you know. It's not fair," she said snickering quietly to herself. He looked at her, confused, and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Dazzle them the way you do," Bella explained, "I'm certain that she's hyperventilating in the kitchen right now; actually she is," smirking. And continued at the confused look on his face, "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you don't know the affect you have on people. Do you think everybody gets their way so quickly?"

Edward tilted his head to the side and said, "I dazzle people?" Bella just simply snickered as he continued, "Do I dazzle you?" Bella looked into his eyes and said, "Occasionally," as their server came to the table, and sure enough, just as Bella had suspected, the server's face was expectant, the hostess had obviously spilled the beans. Once they ordered their drinks, the server disappeared and they returned to just sitting, well, Bella was sitting, Edward was watching her.

"You know, I'm not going into shock," Bella said, without looking at him.

"A normal person would be," he shot back.

"I've been through worse," Bella replied, still not looking at him, in fact she looked bored.

"What are you, Isabella Swan?" he whispered.

"Obviously not human," she whispered back, once again not elaborating, and fell silent as the waitress returned with their drinks, and Bella ordered some food. She didn't pick up where she left off when the waitress left.

"Just as I know you're not either," she said out of the blue, making him look at her with alarm on his features. They just say there staring at each for a few moments until the waitress returned with Bella's food and some more soda. Once she left again, he demanded, "How do you know?"

"You're not the first of your kind that I've ever met," Bella replied, "I could tell a vampire from a human about a mile away." Edward just looked at her incredulously.

"But that doesn't answer my question," he whispered.

"I'll tell you in the car, you're probably not going to believe me anyway," she told him as she ate. As she ate, Bella asked, "May I ask why you were in Port Angeles?"

His eyes became anxious as he replied, "I followed you. I've never tried to keep a certain person alive before. It's actually more troublesome than I'd ever thought it would be, but then maybe it's just because it's you."

"Did it ever occur to you that my number was up with the van?" she asked, and added in her thoughts, "As if it could have killed me."

"That was not the first time. Your number was up the day I met you," Edward said. Bella stiffened as she looked at him, remembering his face on her first day of school. Noticing her stiffen, he asked, "You remember don't you?" She didn't answer, only nodded.

"And yet here you sit," he scoffed unbelievingly.

"Because of you," she said, "That and because you don't scare me." He just looked at her incredulously as she continued eating.

"I never imagined that it would be this hard to keep track of you. Normally, I can locate a person easily, once I've heard their mind before. I was keeping tabs on Jessica, not carefully, so I didn't notice when you had taken off on your own, but when I realized that you weren't with her any more, I went to the bookstore that I saw in her head, but I could tell that you hadn't gone in, that you had gone south and knew that you would have to turn around sooner or later, preferably sooner, but even so, I was unusually anxious, so I drove in circles, listening for any sign that someone had seen you, and then …" his voice drifted off as he face became furious again, and he continued, "I heard their thoughts, saw your face in their minds. It was hard, you cannot possibly imagine how difficult it was for me to just simply take you away and leave them unharmed. I would have let you leave with Jessica and Angela, but I was afraid that if you left me alone, I would go hunting for them." Throughout his entire confession, Bella just watched his face, even when he moved to cover it with his hand. When he finally looked at her again, Edward asked, "Are you ready to go?" She nodded in response and the waitress appeared with the check, but he quickly slid a bill into the folder and told her to keep the change. It wasn't much longer that they were in the car.

As he drove, Edward turned to her and said, "Now will you tell me what you meant about not being human?"

"I suppose," Bella sighed. He looked at her expectantly as she gathered her thoughts and continued, "I'm what my family calls a hemophage."

"You mean like in the movies?" he asked incredulously.

"No, Hollywood's versions never get anything right," Bella snorted.

"Hear, hear," he responded, making her chuckle and she went on. "Being a hemophage is not a disease. For us it's part of our DNA, part of our blood. There's no limit to how long we'll live. We are essentially humans with vampire capabilities. We have the speed and strength of a vampire. But some things are different; we read minds, move things with our minds, and influence the elements, well, normally each hemophage can only influence one element."

"But?" he urged.

"The hemophagic gene that runs through my veins in continuously changing, mutating if you will," Bella said, "Increasing my powers and strength. Unlike my cousins and fellow hemophages, I can influence all elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Wood, and Metal, but I'm more attuned to Earth and Wood than anything else." He watched her face with awe and wonder written on his features.

"So, you really don't care that I'm not human?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"It doesn't matter, Edward," she said in a flat voice, "How could it when I'm not completely human myself?" He looked at her then, searching her eyes for something. Whether or not he found what he was looking for, she didn't know, because he turned his eyes back to the road.

"So, I take it you were hunting this weekend?" she asked, changing the subject to the fact that he hadn't been at school on Friday, or Monday, for that matter.

"Yes," Edward replied, keeping his eyes on the road, "I didn't want to go, but it was necessary; it's easier to be around you, when I'm not thirsty."

"Why?"

"I get anxious when I'm away from you. I wasn't joking when I asked you to try to be safe when I last saw you. I worried about you the entire time. Trust me; it was a long three days. Emmett got really annoyed with me." He looked at her and smiled slightly. She just looked away from him and out the window.

"What are you thinking?" he asked all of a sudden. She didn't answer and her cell phone rang before he could ask again. Bending over and removing it from a strap around her ankle, Bella looked briefly at the caller id and saw that Nathaniel was calling her. Answering it, she said, "What, Nate?" annoyed. Edward watched her with agonized eyes.

"_Geez, touchy! What did I interrupt?"_ he griped.

"I'm in the middle of something at the moment; what do you want?" she demanded.

"_Nat just got back from patrol. She found evidence of another vampire attack," _he reported.

"Same MO?" Bella asked. The last few weeks the Defenders had found evidence of vampire attacks, vampires who were very different from Edward's family, vampires who drank human blood.

"_Down to the last drop of blood on the ground," _he answered. Bella gritted her teeth and growled, surprising Edward. Her growl sounded just like a cat's. He looked at her, analyzing her expression. He couldn't understand what her cousin was talking about, but obviously, Bella did and she wasn't happy about it.

"You, Luke, and Nat take another patrol just to be sure," Bella ordered, "Does Charlie know about this?"

"_Luke made him aware of it," _Nathaniel said_, "He's sending out a search party tomorrow under the pretense that they're looking for a couple of missing hikers in the morning."_

"Good, see you when you get home," Bella told him.

"_Got'cha, Bells,"_ Nathaniel replied as he hung up the phone. When she put her phone away, Edward asked, "What's going on, Bella?"

"My cousins and I form a group that we call the Defenders," Bella said, "We run patrols to keep the peace between vampires and humans. For the last few weeks, we've been finding evidence of vampire attacks, vampires who are completely different from you and your family. The humans haven't noticed anything, and we'd like to keep it that way, but it's been long enough, they'll notice it sooner or later."

"What do you mean 'patrols'?" Edward demanded angrily. She looked at him surprised as she answered, "I mean that one of us runs around at night, making sure that all is well."

"You mean to tell me that you run around at night, **alone**, making sure that everyone else is safe?!" he growled. Bella nodded, watching his reaction with surprise. When he pulled in front of her house, she asked, "Are you mad at me?" in a sad voice. The tone of her voice made him stiffen and look at her. Her expression was one of sadness, her eyes in pain. He quickly shook his head, wanting to get the look off her face. She nodded slightly before turning to get out of the car and as she got out, she said, "See ya at school," as he drove off.

Later on that night, after having a meeting with her cousins and father, Bella laid in bed thinking, _"About things, I am absolutely positive. First, Edward is a vampire, and now knows about the hemophages. Second, there's a part of him that thirsts for my blood. And, third, I am completely, and irrevocably, in love with him,"_ before she fell asleep.

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The next morning, Bella was surprised to find Edward leaning against his car as she left the house. His face almost brightened when he saw her. She was wearing a dark blue V-necked, long sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans with tennis shoes with her hair pulled back.

"That color of blue looks lovely with your skin," he complimented, making her blush as she whispered quietly, "Thank you," and got in his car, leaving her cousins to drive themselves. When they got to school, Bella immediately saw Jessica standing under the cafeteria overhang, her eyes wide, and she groaned. Jessica had called the night before and Bella had known that she would ask a lot of questions when they were alone. Once Jessica had headed into the school, Edward asked, "What are you going to tell her?"

"I have no idea," she replied. he chuckled, and said, "Well, the first question about the dating, I suppose, you can say yes to, but as for the one about your feelings for me, well, I'll be waiting to hear the answer to that one myself," as he caught a stray lock of Bella's hair and gently tucked it back in place before entering the school himself.

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Sure enough, Jessica was bouncing up and down in her seat when Bella entered their Trigonometry class. Once Bella took her seat, Jessica pounced.

"Tell me everything," she demanded.

"Like what?" Bella answered.

"What happened?"

"He bought me dinner and drove me home," Bella replied, not allowing her annoyance to filter through into her voice.

"But how did you get home so fast?"

"He drives like a maniac," Bella said, hoping he would hear.

"Did you tell him to meet you there?" Jessica asked. Bella shook her head and said, "No."

"Come on, Bella, give me some details!"

"Okay, I have one for you, you should have seen the waitress flirting with him," Bella said, "It was intense, but he didn't pay any attention to her at all."

"Was she pretty?"

"Yes, and at least 19 or 20," Bella replied.

"Wow, he must like you."

"I guess; it's hard to tell. He's so cryptic," Bella threw in for his benefit.

"Are you guys going out again?"

"I don't know, Jess," Bella replied.

"So, you like him, then," she said, obviously not giving up.

"Yes," Bella sighed, getting tired of talking about this.

"Do you really, _really_, like him?"

"Yes," Bella replied again, blushing.

"How much do you like him?"

"Too much," Bella told her, "More than he likes me, I'm sure, but I don't see how I can help that." Bella breathed a sigh of relief when their teacher called on Jessica for an answer and took evasive action and they began talking about Mike throughout the rest of Trigonometry and Spanish.

When the bell rang for the end of Spanish, Edward met Bella at the door of the classroom with both an amused and an irritated look on his face and Bella knew immediately that he had made good on his promise and had been listening. He walked with her in line and once they were out of the line, though he would have preferred to sit with her alone, they along with her cousins sat with his family. Alice had demanded to meet Bella officially; said that there was something that she wanted to talk to her about.

"Bella, these are my brothers and sisters, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett. Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, this is Bella and her cousins, Nathaniel, Lucas, and Natalie." Each of them nodded at the other. Actually Rosalie just glared at Bella, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow and an irritated look on her face.

"It's about time you introduced her to us, Ed," Emmett told him with a smirk. Edward scowled and Bella rolled her eyes at Emmett's enthusiasm and knew that he and Nate would get along perfectly.

"So, the waitress was pretty, was she?" he started.

"You didn't notice?" she said.

"I wasn't paying attention. Had a lot on my mind." She scoffed before he continued, "Something that you told Jessica, it bothers me.

"It doesn't surprise me that you heard something that you didn't like," Bella told him, "You know what they say about eavesdroppers."

"I said that I would be listening."

"And I told you that you didn't want to know absolutely everything that I was thinking," Bella reminded him of the conversation they had in the car on the way to school that morning. They were leaning toward each other now as he agreed, "Indeed, you did; however, I do want to know everything you're thinking. There's just some things that I wish you weren't thinking."

"Wow, what a conundrum."

"That is not the point right now," he told her.

"Okay, then, what is?" Edward looked at her, his golden eyes piercing, as he said, "Do you really think that you care for me more than I care for you?" Bella turned away from him, her face impassive as she replied, "You're doing it again." He looked confused for a moment before he asked, "Doing what?"

"Dazzling me."

"Oh," he muttered as he frowned, "Are you going to answer the question or not?"

"I'll think about it," Bella scowled, watching as a look of irritation flashed across his face before she muttered, "Yes."

"Yes, you're going to answer, or yes, you really think that."

Bella scowled again as she muttered, "Yes, I really think that," looking away from him so that she couldn't see his expression.

"You're wrong," she heard him whisper. Bella looked at him to see that his eyes were gentle, something that she had never seen before as she whispered, "You can't know that."

"What makes you think that?" She didn't answer, and he scowled, growing frustrated at her lack of an answer. She held up one finger, signaling that she needed time to come up with an answer and his expression cleared, satisfied that she was planning to answer.

"I'm not really sure; there's times it's like you're saying goodbye when you're saying something else," Bella whispered after a moment, "And then there's the obvious."

"Very perceptive, but that's exactly why you're wrong, you know," Edward replied, before narrowing his eyes and demanded, "And what do you mean the obvious?"

"Oh, come on, I'm completely boring! Not to mention a danger magnet!" Bella hissed. Edward raised an eyebrow and said, "You don't see yourself very clearly, do you? Trust me just this once, Bella, you're anything but boring. I mean you're dead right about being a danger magnet, but I'm sure you didn't hear what every human male in this school was thinking on your first day."

"I was trying very hard to ignore it," she growled through her teeth as he chuckled, and she said, "I'm not going to say goodbye though."

Edward flashed a sad smile at her and whispered, "And that proves it. That I care the most. Because if I can do it, if leaving means that you'll be safe, then I don't care how much it hurts, I'll do it."

"And you don't think that I'd do the same," she growled at him angrily, making him look at her and say, "You wouldn't have to make the choice."

"Then you don't know me very well, Edward," Bella whispered. He just looked at her, trying to decipher some of her thoughts, but her eyes gave away nothing and he laughed, and smiled as he said, "As you know, keeping track of you is starting to feel like a full time occupation, that requires my constant attention." Bella didn't reply, just slightly smiled. "I need to ask you something."

"What?" Bella replied.

"Do you really have to go to Seattle on Saturday, or was that just an excuse to say no to all of your admirers?" Bella scowled at the memory, and growled her feline like growl at him and said through her teeth, "I haven't forgiven you for the Tyler scam yet. I think it's your fault that he's just suddenly decided that I'm going to prom with him!" referring to the fact that Jessica and Angela had told her that Tyler was telling the whole school that he was taking her to prom. Edward chuckled and said. "He would have found a way to ask you without me—I just wanted to see your face. But I'm curious, if I had asked, would you have turned me down?" Bella scowled, and said, "Probably not, but I would have canceled later, faked an illness, or sprained ankle, maybe."

"Why would you do that?"

"School dances make me uncomfortable, especially formal ones," Bella snorted. He watched her for a moment before saying, "You never told me, are you set on going to Seattle, or do you mind if we do something else?"

Bella sighed and said, "I'm open for alternatives." Edward nodded happily until he asked, "Are you going to tell Charlie?" She gave him a baleful look that told him that she didn't think that he could harm her if he wanted to. Then the bell rang, and as they got up, Lucas turned around and asked Bella, "Whose turn is it for patrol tonight?"

"Mine," she told him. Edward stiffened when he heard that and turned to glare at her, but she ignored him. Lucas nodded and said, "See ya later, Fem Fatale." Edward continued to glare at her as they walked to class together. They just sat quietly until he asked, "Why did Lucas call you "Fem Fatale"?" in a quiet voice so that Mike Newton who was listening to their conversation couldn't hear.

"You've noticed that my growls sound a lot like a cat's, right?" in a voice just as quiet. He nodded as she continued, "I left out one of my powers when I told you about me last night. Due to my heightened powers, I can talk to animals with my mind. Talking to felines is a lot easier than any other animals. So because of it, my cousins like to call me the Fem Fatale as a joke. There's that, and the fact that I'm the most trained in combat." They didn't speak again until Edward had driven her home and he said, "See you tomorrow, Bella." She nodded as she got out of the car and she watched him drive off before walking into her house.

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The rest of the week passed by in a blur; Bella didn't even seem to notice until Friday evening. She laid on her bed thinking about the next day, what it would mean in the relationship between Edward and her. They couldn't remain where they were, standing upon the edge of a knife, in the end; they were going to fall off on one side or the other. She had already made her decision; there was no going back for her.

What bothered her most was what Alice had told her after school on Tuesday.

_-Flashback-_

_Alice had pulled Bella aside after school before Edward had rejoined her._

"_Bella, I know that you have some precognition, like I do," Alice told her. Bella stopped breathing. No one outside her closest family members knew about Bella's precognitive abilities and she didn't even tell Edward yet._

"_I've seen that you and Edward will be in danger," Alice continued, "You know of what danger I speak. From Augustine." So Alice knew about Augustine. Augustine was from another hemophage family, a family who considered themselves the Swans enemies and rivals. They were hemophages who thought that they were of higher class than the humans, who thought that they, the hemophages, should rule them and the vampires._

"_I'm telling you this, because if Edward knew, he would go ballistic," Alice said, "And you're the only one he's close to that he can't hear," and once she finished, Alice walked away towards Rosalie's convertible to join Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper. Edward arrived not long afterward._

"_What did Alice want?" he asked._

"_Nothing, just to talk," Bella replied._

_-Flashback End-_

She knew that Augustine was trouble. Their families had once been friends, but they had a falling out when the Swans refused to help the Nickwells with their plan for world domination. Augustine was the youngest child of the leader of the Nickwell family, Nikolai. She was insanely beautiful, but did not have the air that Bella did, and was insanely jealous of Bella's popularity. As she lay in her bed, pondering the danger from Augustine, Bella fell asleep.

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The next morning once Edward had arrived they had immediately left. Once they got to the forest, Bella was thankful that she had worn tennis shoes.

"I hope the weather holds up," Bella said. Edward didn't say anything just nodded. As they arrived at a meadow, Bella noticed that Edward had not followed her into the meadow. Looking around for him, she found him leaning against a tree at the edge of the meadow watching her cautiously. Confused, Bella held out her hand to him, but he shook his head and held up his hand for patience. He took a deep breath, and stepped into the sunlight.

Seeing Edward in the sunlight startled her for a moment. She had, of course, met vampires before but she had never seen them on a sunny day. His skin sparkled like diamonds across the surface. He lay back against the grass of the meadow, trying to look relaxed, but she could tell that he was tense, like a lion. She heard him lightly singing to himself. Silently, Bella laid down on her back next to him, and enjoyed the sun as it shown on her face and closed her eyes.

"I don't scare you," she heard him ask after a moment. Bella opened her eyes and turned her face towards him. He was looking at her with a soft expression on his face.

"You've never scared me," she whispered. He smiled at her which made her smile back.

"Tell me what you're thinking. It's still strange for me not to know," he whispered. Bella smiled slightly when she whispered, "I was wishing that I wasn't afraid."

"I thought you said that you weren't scared of me," he responded.

"It's not you I'm afraid of," Bella told him, "It's just that I'm afraid that you're going to disappear. It's hard, because you've become important to me." She then turned her head back towards the sky and closed her eyes again. They fell silent until she asked, "Does it happen often, that you find someone who is as appealing as I am to you?"

"I asked my brothers, Jasper wasn't sure, but he hasn't been on the wagon as long as Emmett and I have. Emmett knew what I was talking about. He said twice for him, once stronger than the other. For me, never," he replied.

"So, what are you asking of me? My permission?" Bella asked, opening her eyes to look at him, "So, is there no hope then?" Edward's eyes widened and he sat up and cried, "No! Of course there's hope. I would never! Those were strangers that Emmett happened across; this is a totally different situation."

"So, I would have had to run for my life, if we had met in a dark alley or something?" she asked raising her eyebrow.

"It was hard not to attack in the middle of that classroom full of children," he started, "I could have destroyed everything that Carlisle has created for us in that single moment when you walked past me. If I haven't been denying my thirst for the last yucky yuck years, I wouldn't have been able to stop myself." He scowled into the trees before looking at her grimly, and added, "You must have thought that I was possessed by some sort of demon."

She chuckled, and said, "In many cultures, you would be the demon yourself, but I couldn't understand why you would hate me so quickly. I could tell that you weren't like the other vampires that I had met, but still knew that human blood would be a temptation for you. With the way you were acting, I was afraid that you were going to attack me, or someone else, in the classroom. If you had, I would have been forced to put you out of commission, permanently."

He chuckled darkly before saying, "It was as if you were a kind of demon, summoned from my personal hell to destroy me. The scent coming off your skin, I thought that it would drive me insane in just that one hour. During that time, I thought of at least a hundred different ways to lure you from the room with me, but I fought them all, with thoughts of my family and what I could do to them." When he looked up, Edward saw that Bella understood, encouraged he continued, "After school that day, I left my brothers and sisters near home, and traded cars with Carlisle. By the next morning, I was in Alaska. I stayed a few days there with some old acquaintances, but I hated knowing that I had upset Esme, and the others. While there, it was unbelievable to think that you were so irresistible, so I convinced myself that it had been weak to run away. I'd dealt with temptation before, no where near of this magnitude. And I was strong. Who were you, an insignificant little girl, to scare me away from where I wanted to be?" He continued to look into her eyes and saw nothing, but understanding and wonder written in her features.

"I was overly cautious, hunting more often than normal before seeing you again. I was arrogant about the fact that I was strong enough to treat you like any other human. It was a complication that I couldn't hear your thoughts, so I didn't know what your reaction was to me. It was unusual for me to have to read your words through another person's thoughts. Jessica's mind isn't very original, and then I didn't know if you meant what you'd said; it was all extremely frustrating. I wanted you to forget the way I had behaved on that first day, if at all possible, so I tried talk to you as I would any other person. I was hoping to decipher some of your thoughts, but you were too interesting. I found myself caught up in your expressions, and once in a while the scent would stun me again." Bella sat up next him, to face him, while he paused.

"Then of course, you were nearly crushed to death in front of me. But you didn't even need my help. The van stopped barely inches in front of you when it should have plowed right into you, and I couldn't figure out what had happened. Then in the hospital, I fought with Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie when they told me that now was the time. Carlisle and Alice were on my side, but then you and your cousin got into a fight right in front of us. I watched as your eyes went from chocolate brown to black in a matter seconds and wondered why. I tried to ask you, but you shook me off. After that I tried to stay away from you as much as possible. But still for all of that, I would have fared much better if I had exposed us, than if now with no witnesses and no way to stop, and I were to hurt you."

"You couldn't if you tried," Bella whispered, "Remember? But why, though?" She was human enough to ask.

"Isabella," he began but paused for a moment before starting again, "Bella, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I ever hurt you. You have no idea how the idea of you dead has tortured me, to never see you blush scarlet again, or the flash of intuition when you see through my pretenses. It would be completely unendurable. You are the most important thing to me now; the most important thing to me ever." Bella's eyes widened at his admission as he took her hands in his as he waited for her to say something.

"You know how I feel already," Bella whispered after a moment. He smiled and nodded slightly before placing his forehead against hers and they just looked into each others eyes.


End file.
